The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1887-01-14

included, and 1 went through every
real authority with this same pas
sion Of eagerness to know what was
rieht-what share l had in helping
or hindering the work l wanted to
do.
For a long time John had locked
himself into the library on the plea
that careless servants sometimes
bolted in suddenly and destroyed
his train of thought. 1t was Satur.
day night early in June-I rememb
err always the breath Of the apple
blossoms that came to me as I stood
FOR a moment in the open doorway,
then turned and knocked at the H.
brary door. John opened it irri;
ably.
"Haven't told you l must not be
disturbed in the EVENING" he began,
then stopped short, as / closed the
door behind me and drew him to
sofa. A bottle stood on the table.
There was the smell of brandy in
the air.
81 have kept away too long, l
said, "whatever the struggle is, John
1 must be part of it, There was a
long silence. / prayed that he might
speak. At last he turned to me.
at is too late" he said, and he
skrank away from me as took his
hand. "I've given up Mary as my
father did before me. I'm not fit to
touch you, my darling, and | do not
mean to. The best for you is to
leave me- altogether. l shall go
oroad-for rest-as the doctor ord
ers, and let it end as soon as posi-
BILE. I've fought till there is no fight
left, and / am weaker than water.
Nothing helps me. There is no help
but in death"
There is no need to tell you Of
those hours of confession and an
guish in which | took the poor, dis
tracted head to my breast, aud 1t
lay there quiet and hopeless till my
own faith brought back a glimmer
of faith for him.
Two things we're necessary; to
change the scene altogether for
time. and altar our habits for all, in
one essential particular. That food
had st any time any influence on
this habit had never occurred to me
till | came to study the treatises on
food. Differ as they might in their
views upon alcohol, there was but
one. voice as to the food essential to
a stomach whose powers were half
destroyed by alcohol. For the story
Of intemperance everywhere was the
story of overeating of animal food
in highly seasoned forms. The un-
ending pork and bacon of the South
and West, the excessive meat eating
in our large cities, all create an ab-
normal thirst which only powerful
stimulent can satisfy. do not need
to go,into physiological details, but
you know that flesh digests more
rapidly than vegetables, certain prin-
ciples it contains being more quickly
absorbed, and giving d sense of
strength which is stimulation, but
not real building up. A preponder-
ance of vegetables and fruit is nee
essary, which assimilate more slowly
and do not create the thirst which
follows inevitably on taking too
much meat, just because an over
supply excites the stomach and
produces excessive action. There is
a regular circle Of causes and effect.
The stomach weakened by over
stimulation, develops gastritis which
includes excessive thirst. Animal
food keeps up the gastritis by oyer.
stimulation and taxation of the af-
fected organs; the gasC.itis excites
thirst; thirst perpetuates drunken.
ness.
Oar system of living had been all
wrong for both John and the child
rem, and was directly responsible
for the development of the tendency
showing itself in my little Stephen
We were all rather light eaters, but
accustomed to consider meat essen
tial at least twice day, and using
condiments and many highly season.
ed pickles freely. Curry was john
favorite dish, and while l did not al,
low Stephen or Harry to eat this, |
gave them all the meat they wanted,
and hardly noticed their Indifference
| to vegetables and fruits, Instead of